


I Prefer Expensive News

by inralphlauren



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, i don't know what i just wrote but i liked it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:29:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4113949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inralphlauren/pseuds/inralphlauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh Sehun has spent decades growing up alongside Kim Jongin.</p><p>He's ridden camels in Egypt with him, shopped for manga and candy in Tokyo with him, had dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower with him, yet, he's never seen Jongin this content.</p><p>He's never seen him as happy as he is with Kim Junmyeon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Prefer Expensive News

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://vine.co/v/ehlqQ5g5LtX).
> 
> Fic title from Frank Ocean's [Super Rich Kids](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggiyRLrH4AA).

* * *

 

The California sun is merciless at the peak of noon, so Sehun can no longer pretend to sleep in because the light is piercing through the glass windows of their Malibu home. Before he even opens his right eyelid, the pain as a result of the night before comes crashing through every fiber of his being. Sehun groans, shutting his eyes tightly before his head begins to incessantly pound. Even the old wound of his eyebrow piercing begins to vibrate unpleasantly.

Untangling himself from the bed's comforter, Sehun makes half-assed attempt at balling up the fabric and promptly throws his right leg over the mount. When his breathing eases back to normal, Sehun's headache kicks in full throttle the moment his ears detect the sound of music playing faintly from outside of the bedroom. He groans for the umpteenth time that morning, finally daring to open his mouth. It's a mistake, he realizes a second too late, because his lips become instantly chapped and his breath reeks of mixed vodka and _Don Julio_.

It takes an hour for Sehun to even manage to peel himself from his comfortable position on top of the comforter, and another two to even shower and appear presentable. He opts to wear pink skinny jeans with a slightly darker pink cardigan over a dress shirt that, for the most part, keeps him cool rather than toast him alive. It's two in the afternoon when he emerges from his bedroom, Jongin busy at work in the kitchen while the music he's blaring from the Bose speakers mixes with the soft, soothing crashing of waves in their backyard. Jongin is quick to detect the movement from his direction, immediately whipping around to look at his best friend. His movements are brusque and quick, and Sehun swears Jongin would get whiplash if he weren't Jongin. Unlike Sehun, Jongin is wearing loose slacks that he's folded the hem of. On his torso, Jongin is wearing nothing more than a wife-beater.

“Good morning,” Jongin says, eyes crinkling at the corners while his septum piercing lifts in unison with his goofy smile. Whenever Jongin isn't smiling, he looks like a murderer, Sehun duly notes. Yet, there is a softness in his eyes that is only present whenever he's addressing Sehun and the younger of the two isn't stupid enough to not notice. Sehun is stupid, but not to that extent, he praises himself. Sehun is glad that he is as an integral part of Jongin’s life as Jongin is of his.

“Good morning for _you_ ,” Sehun murmurs, voice still a bit hoarse but now refreshingly minty instead of the vile taste of last night's liquor.

“I guess it really was a rough night, but that's what you get for going to a celebrity's birthday party.” Jongin chuckles and Sehun realizes it's a sound he's come to grow extremely fond of his hyung's contagious laughter. Pusha T's _Trouble on My Mind_ continues to play softly from the speakers, Tyler's rap registering in Sehun's mind.

“It's not my fault French Montana doesn't invite you to his parties,” Sehun says, plopping on one of the counter chairs and Jongin rolls his eyes.

“Whatever. I got invited to Snoop's in October,” Jongin brags, turning his attention back to the food spread throughout the kitchen. Sehun frowns at the numerous portions, thinking that's way too much food for two people.

“What's up with the food?” Sehun voices his thoughts. Jongin turns around, mouth slightly agape before he’s smiling with his eyes and lips again.

“I’m doing something today,” Jongin answers cryptically, concentrating on wrapping the croissant sandwich in his hand with plastic foil. Sehun frowns but decides to not press any further, instead extending his arm to grab a banana from the fruit bowl. He’s halfway through peeling the fruit when realization dawns on him.

“Does this have to do something with that UCLA TA you’re seeing?” Sehun asks, eyes squinting while he stares at Jongin’s broad back. A slight tremble courses through Jongin’s body, Sehun notes, and he realizes it’s because the older male is laughing at the situation. Bingo.

“So _it is_ that guy. All right, spill.”

Jongin finishes wrapping another sandwich before he places it with the mounting stack next to the toaster. He turns, facing Sehun, and leans across the counter island to stare straight into Sehun’s soul. For the millionth time that morning, Sehun also realizes Jongin’s smile is blinding.

“His name is _Junmyeon_ —”

“ _Junmyeon_.”

“—and yes, I am going out with him today,” Jongin admits with a slight smirk, but it’s an unusual smirk because it’s kind of shy. It’s Sehun’s turn to smirk.

“It’s serious, then?”

“Kind of. He’s really sweet, I really like him.”

Sehun breaks out into laughter, resulting in a frown from Jongin.

“What the fuck are you laughing at, punk?” Jongin raises his voice, and this only happens whenever he gets defensive. It’s cute, Sehun determines.

“Nothing.”

Jongin’s angry face falters before he’s lost in thought, absentmindedly turning his attention back to wrapping the ham sandwiches. The silence stretches on and Sehun wonders if he’s struck a chord just as Jongin speaks again.

“Are you busy today?”

* * *

 

Interstate 10, as per any normal day, looks more like a neverending parking lot of expensive vehicles by the 405 junction. Jongin suggests getting off the freeway to navigate the streets of Century City. Sehun shrugs, saying he really doesn’t mind as he runs a hand through unruly blonde hair, adjusting the Ray Ban shades resting on his nose. Jongin takes the next exit he can manage, heading north on La Cienga Boulevard. They don’t need a GPS or his iPhone 6 because Jongin knows the streets of Los Angeles like he knows the blueprints of their home in Malibu. The radio is blaring and the silence is really nice. Frank Ocean’s Novacane plays loudly, turning heads from other drivers in their own cars at the red stop light on Wilshire Boulevard. Sehun merely smirks playfully at the pretty girl in her Corvette, Jongin cruising their Mercedes away from them.

“You’re going to get soda thrown at my car if you keep doing that shit, Sehunnie,” Jongin warns, but Sehun laughs at his playful nickname and goes back to peering outside of the window.

They take a right turn on 6th Street. For a while, Sehun is hit with nostalgia as they cruise through the streets of Koreatown.

The Hangul bolded on billboards plastered throughout the city tug at the strings of his fragile heart. Sehun likes to believe he’s tough, likes to believe he can handle anything that comes his way, but even money (something that Sehun has plenty of, courtesy of his multimillionaire parents) can’t conceal the emptiness he feels at often times. He looks towards Jongin’s direction, the older of the two singing along to Kendrick Lamar that's blasting from the speakers of the Mercedes.

Jongin is lucky, Sehun thinks. He may be the heir to the Shinhan Bank empire, but at least he’s being given the opportunity to get things out of his system before he turns twenty-five and takes over as CEO of the financial group. It helps Jongin a lot that’s he’s fucking brilliant, too. He graduated from Yale Law School with Summa Cum Laude honors.

“Stop staring,” Jongin brings him out of his reverie, grip tightening on the steering wheel. His smile signals that he's only kidding. “It freaks me out.”

Sehun laughs softly, placing his bony elbow in between the window and the door frame. “Okay.”

* * *

 

“Why are we here?” Sehun asks, voice suddenly small. A sense of uneasiness courses through his body as he eyes scan the endless ocean of people with raggy clothes, faces that tell unique stories of struggle and exhaustion. Sehun is immediately hit with a reality he isn’t too familiar with.

Jongin smiles warmly. “To help Junmyeon.”

Sehun frowns. “Junmyeon lives here? I thought you said he was a UCLA student?”

“Teaching assistant,” Jongin corrects before adding, “and I did. _He is_.”

Jongin opens the trunk of the Mercedes and instructs Sehun to take two of the five containers full of sandwiches, Sehun hesitantly complying. They carry the container boxes up the street, maneuvering through the endless line of homeless citizens as they stare intently at the two males. Jongin’s smile doesn’t falter and then Sehun catches a glimpse of a short, regal-looking male at the very front of the line.

The man seems to notice them too, pearly whites flashing brightly in their direction and Sehun feels momentarily blinded. Jongin, on the other hand, seems like he’s just seen the answer to all the questions in the universe.

“ _Jonginnie_ ,” the man greets with both hands waving frantically in the air like a five year old and _oh_. That must be Junmyeon in tight slacks and thin, navy cardigan. Jongin’s cheeks turn slightly pink, but Sehun thinks he’s the only one in the world who can truly notice after having spent decades with the older male.

“Junmyeon,” Jongin speaks sweetly, eyes softening at the shortest male. Sehun feels like gagging on the spot at the amount of sap Jongin-the-Tree is seeping right now.

“I’m right here, you know,” Sehun deadpans with a murmur, making sure Jongin is the only one who can hear him. Jongin appears to launch himself into introductions when Junmyeon interrupts him and surprises both the latter and Sehun.

“Sehun-ah? I’m Kim Junmyeon,” Junmyeon speaks and it’s fluent Korean, throwing Sehun off. “Jongin tells me so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Junmyeon is so eloquent in Korean, it makes Sehun feel like a pile of goo and that _disarming smile_. He’s suddenly all too shy. It’s pissing Sehun off. Poor Jongin, he thinks, to fall in love with such a scary person like Kim Junmyeon.

“Oh Sehun. Likewise, hyung,” Sehun replies in Korean as well, bowing at the male while still holding the containers and remembering that Jongin had let it slip Junmyeon was older than them. Junmyeon keeps looking at him with that incandescent smile, eyes wrinkling at the corners and Sehun feels like he’s being analyzed in a matter of seconds. The feeling is gone, quickly, as Junmyeon turns towards Jongin asking him to place the containers of food on top of the table in front of the shelter’s food line.

“Sehun-ah—”

“Just Sehun,” Sehun says, flashing Junmyeon a small smile.

“ _Sehun_ ,” Junmyeon corrects with a smile, as if calling Sehun by his first name is the best thing in the universe. “Can you and Jongin help with handing out the food?” he asks, head slightly diligent to his left.

“Yeah,” Sehun says and then he’s (along with Jongin) being directed to the other side of the table, a tower of wrapped sandwiches and water bottles looming over the table.

“One of each,” Junmyeon explains, smiling still. _Doesn’t the guy get tired of smiling_ , Sehun asks himself. “Tell them they can come get left overs once the line is finished.”

Both Sehun and Jongin nod, going to work.

Sehun has seen the temple in which the Dalai Lama resides, has seen the pyramids in Cairo, has seen Big Ben in London, has seen the endless Pacific Ocean numerous times, but nothing moves him as deeply as the moment he sees a little girl approach him shyly, extending her dirtied arms towards him. Sehun feels his throat constrict, an unfamiliar sting of tears welling behind his eyes. He closes his eyes, counting backwards from ten before his eyelids are fluttering open, a single fat tear running down his cheek. Quietly, Sehun reaches for two sandwiches and a water bottle, placing the oversized items on the girl’s tiny palms.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he says, smiling, and then he winks at her. She smiles brightly at him, running back towards the direction of her family. A warm hand squeezes his shoulder, Sehun looking at a grinning Junmyeon.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone either,” he says, before he’s going back to restocking the water bottles on the table.

Sehun can’t stop smiling the rest of the afternoon as he hands sandwiches to everyone on Skid Row.

* * *

 

“What kind did you order?” Junmyeon asks Jongin with a mouthful of meat and corn tortilla in his mouth. He catches Sehun staring, smiling at the younger male with a piece of cilantro stuck to one of his front teeth. Sehun bursts into laughter, placing the plate of his own tacos on the floor of the parking lot before doubling over on choked breaths. Jongin stares at him quizzically before ignoring his existence completely and looking at Junmyeon.

Unlike Junmyeon, Jongin finishes his mouthful before speaking. “ _Tripas_ and _suadero_ , I believe. I feel like I butchered the pronunciation.” Junmyeon’s nose is wrinkling in laughter at Jongin’s confession before he’s placing his plate on the hood of the Mercedes he and Jongin are seated above before nuzzling his nose into the crook Jongin’s neck.

Unconsciously, Sehun clears his throat, gaining the attention of the other two males. “Sorry, my tacos don’t go down too easy,” is his bullshit excuse for cockblocking before he takes a sip of his horchata drink. Junmyeon simply smiles at him before resuming his position at the crook of Jongin’s neck. This time, Jongin wraps an arm around the smaller man and holds him closer.

 _And there it is_ , Sehun observes, _a gaze reserved only for Junmyeon_. Jongin stares at Sehun with the brightest brotherly love on a daily basis, but with Junmyeon it’s different. It’s nice to see his best friend smiling this way.

When they’re finished eating, Sehun cleans up after himself. The sun has long ago set, the soft buzzing of the radio coming from inside the Mercedes. Jongin and Junmyeon are still attached at the hip with their arms around one another, whispering things to each other and smiling shyly. Sehun swallows his pride and pretends to not feel like a third wheel as he goes on an Instagram like-spree.

“I think it’s time I got home,” Junmyeon finally says after Sehun’s fifth game with Chelsea on his FIFA16 app. Sehun internally thanks whatever deities exist because his legs were in the process of cramping from sitting on his ass for a complete hour. Jongin lets out a pathetic whine that Sehun diligently commits to memory in favor of teasing the elder later on.

Junmyeon sinks into his navy cardigan a bit deeper, looking at Sehun. “It was nice to meet you, Sehun. Thank you for coming to help today.”

Sehun bows a complete ninety degrees, before looking up, a soft smile plastered on his face. “Junmyeon-ssi, it was my pleasure. Thank you as well. Today was… rewarding.” Junmyeon smiles at the confession, all-knowing. Surprise overtakes his features before he’s reaching into his slacks’ pocket and fishing out his wallet. He opens the leather item and pulls out a white card. “Here’s my business card, if you ever need it.”

Sehun nods, taking the piece of paper and putting it inside his own pocket. He stares at Jongin, waiting for the latter to say that they’re leaving, but he’s met with a piercing death glare. And oh. _Oh_.

“I’ll wait in the car,” Sehun laughs, climbing into the Mercedes as Jongin and Junmyeon move towards the older man’s own BMW.

Sehun is a creep, he knows this, so it’s no surprise when he peers through the front window at the couple. Junmyeon and Jongin are well into sucking each other’s faces by the time Sehun even fastens his seatbelt, making the youngest male choke on his saliva.

“Wow hyungs,” Sehun laughs, adjusting his snapback, “you waste no time.”

Sehun thinks he should look away, but the truth is he’s never seen Jongin rendered so useless by anyone before and it’s endearing. It’s nice to see him so in love with Kim Junmyeon. It’s nice to see—

Jongin slipping his hands from Junmyeon’s waist to his ass, cupping each cheek through his slacks and seeing Junmyeon physically shiver. Junmyeon doesn’t look too taken aback, though, because he’s grinding into Jongin’s leg and _holy fuck_ , they’re going to have public sex if Sehun doesn’t stop them.

As Sehun reaches for the horn on the steering wheel, Junmyeon leans closer into Jongin, taking his ear that’s pierced in five different places into his mouth and _sucking_ —

Sehun presses the horn so hard that the noise sends Junmyeon and Jongin flying apart. Jongin has a tent in his skinny jeans and Sehun is still laughing through tears by the time Jongin is climbing into the driver’s seat. He’s taking deep breaths, probably to control his temper, but Sehun is still laughing like his life depends on it.

“I’m going to fucking murder you, Oh Sehun.”

Ah, yes. Oh Sehun, Cockblock Extraordinaire: saving the public one cockblock at a time.

The drive back to Malibu is uneventful, the Los Angeles night traffic a bit more tolerable than other days, but that’s only because it’s Saturday evening, Sehun thinks. He’s looking through his messages when he remembers the business card in his pocket. Sehun plucks the piece of paper out without much trouble, taking it between his thumb and index finger—

_Kim Junmyeon_

_Samsung Electronics CEO_

Sehun screams for an entire minute, fuck the cars around them.

“He doesn't hold the position yet, but that's why he's out here. Also, if it helps, he owns an iPhone,” Jongin smiles, chuckling.

Oh Sehun has spent decades growing up alongside Kim Jongin.

He's ridden camels in Egypt with him, shopped for manga and candy in Tokyo with him, had dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower with him, yet, he's never seen Jongin this content.

He's never seen him as happy as he was today with Kim Junmyeon.

It’s a nice sound Sehun thinks, the sound of Jongin's easy-going chuckles, a sound he could get used to if Kim Junmyeon makes is best friend this happy.


End file.
